Joel Denies Charity Snub

Singer/songwriter Billy Joel has slammed reports he refused permission for one of his songs to be used on a BBC charity appeal.

The hitmaker insists he knew nothing about the request for Scottish newscaster Jackie Bird to perform a version of his song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” on last Friday’s telecast for Children in Need, and therefore couldn’t have said no.

He also resents the fact the BBC have made him look like “a jerk” for publicizing the mistaken information.

He fumes, “I didn’t know anything about it, but there’s a couple of questions I have.

“The most important ones for me are where did the request go to and who turned it down. The only person with authority to do that is me. I saw the song Jackie Bird had written and I would have allowed that to be used.

“It’s not unusual for people to make these kinds of requests but this story is bizarre. I only found out when I saw the story on the Internet.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but in this case, the facts aren’t right.

“I don’t know if the request was sent to Sony or EMI but they don’t have the authority to turn it down.”

A spokesman for BBC Scotland says, “We were informed by EMI that, after making inquiries with Billy Joel’s representatives, the request had been denied.”